THE PRINCE CONSORT AND GERMANY [To the Editor of THE
SPECTATOR.]
enclose you herewith an extract from the Journals and Letters of Reginald Viscount Esher, published by Ivor Nicholson and Watson, Ltd., 1934, and on pp. 291/2 of the Journals under date of March 5th, 1908, I find the follow- ing statement:
" I called today on Sir Theodore Martin who has a charming house full of nice old-fashioned things in Onslow Gardens.. . . We talked for an hour of the Queen's Letters every word of which he has read. He is particularly pleased with the corroboration which they give to his Life of the Prime Consort. He was accused, he said, of having played the courtier and flatterer. The Lettere give the direct lie to any such imputation.
" He first saw the Queen six years after the death of the Prince. She was full of impulse and keenness but her judgment and know- ledge were much inferior to what they afterwards became. Still, he thinks that publication of correspondence during years sub- sequent to the death of the Prince is bound to modify the estimate at present current about the Queen's ability, so powerful was the influence and so great were the qualities of mind which the Prince displayed.
The Queen's style, though slovenly, he thinks excellent in one particular, i.e., when she delineated the character of persons whom she met. Then, he does not think it could be improved upon so graphic and simple was it ; and there is truth in this. ' She was not a woman of great mental capacity, but full of right sense and right instincts.'
The Prince died of overwork, of that he is convinced. He put into 40 years the work of 80, and had he lived, would have been an invalid.
" In 1870 the Queen said to Martin, It was merciful the beloved Prince was taken, for had he lived I could never have prevented him from joining the German Armies."
I cannot make out how the statement comes to be published without comment, as it is simply astounding that the Queen should have said to Sir Theodore Martin that if the Prince Consort had lived he would never have been prevented from joining the German Armies.
Surely this statement ought to be considered, as according to the Queen her husband, who was Prince Consort, might have acted against this country if this country had been involved in a war with Germany.—Yours faithfully,
80 Coleman Street, London. E.C.2. B. MAYNARD.
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